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Identity theft is an experience we’ve all heard about and none of us want to experience. As a merchant who accepts credit cards, you are one of the first lines of defense against identity theft, although you may not realize it. By the time you finish reading this, however, you’ll hopefully have a better understanding of this crime and how it can be prevented by working with your merchant services provider.

Is the virtual shopping cart on your e-commerce website operating at peak efficiency? What is its abandonment rate? What can you do to improve its function? These are all questions you may have asked yourself, and merchant services provider TransFirst® has some answers.

A merchant account is a prerequisite for accepting credit cards for your business, and with it come a number of contractual responsibilities that you must meet. Otherwise, your merchant account privileges may be suspended or revoked entirely.

The life cycle of a credit card transaction remains basically the same regardless of the type of credit card processing that’s used: card-present retail, online, mobile, wireless, MOTO or dialup. Because many merchants and most cardholders don’t know what that process entails, TransFirst® offers the following explanation:

To set or not to set credit card minimum purchase requirements — that is the choice facing small business owners. It’s a decision that many merchants make in the affirmative as a way to save on the credit card processing fees they’re charged every time they swipe a card, but it’s a move that shouldn’t be made without considering all the pros and cons.